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Homily – July 11

After the parable of the Prodigal Son, this parable of the Good Samaritan is one of best known and most challenging parables of Jesus.
Our first reading is from Deuteronomy. Moses explains how simple God’s command is. ‘It is not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky, that you should say, ‘Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’ Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?’ The commandment of the Lord is very near to us, already in our hearts and in our mouths. In other words, it’s in your face. It is like the new commandment Jesus gave us the evening before he was to die, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ How often have we heard it and yet we continue to confuse the issue by constantly asking ‘who am I to love, who is the ‘other’, who is my neighbour?’
We have difficulty loving our neighbour because we do not understand ‘neighbour’ as Jesus did. Neighbour for us means people we like, people who are on our side, people who work for a living, and who mind their own business. Jesus redefines neighbor as the hated stranger who is down and out, a stranger challenging us to stop what we are doing, break out of our narrow mindedness and care for his or her need.
For example Jesus would have us see our neighbour in those misguided, destructive people who vandalized police cars and stores during the G20 meeting. Jesus would have us see our neighbour in the police officers whose dragnet took in many innocent bystanders. Jesus would have us see our neighbour in all those world leaders who cost us one billion dollars.
Closer to home Jesus would have us see our neighbour in the unwashed, unkempt man or woman standing at an intersection looking for a handout. He would have us see our neighbour in the street person, the bag lady, the destitute and homeless of our city. Jesus would have us see our neighbour in the mug shots we see daily in the press of people found guilty of senseless violence and murder. Jesus would have us see our neighbour in a person of different faith, different nationality, different social status, and different life style. Jesus would have us see our neighbour in the priests guilty of the crime of child abuse and the bishops who turned a blind eye to their crimes. Neighbour is a catholic word, and all embracing word.
The last words of today’s gospel will always be a challenge to us, they will always call us to a new understanding of neighbour ‘go thou and do likewise.’ Jesus challenges each of us to see in every person we meet, friend, foe or stranger, a person who is precious in the sight of God. No matter how attractive or offensive a person may be to us we are to remember that Jesus Christ died on the cross for such a person, just as surely as he died on the cross for you and me.
As someone once said, ‘I realize that the only times I will find my neighbor are when I am generous enough to become one. The test of the authenticity of our own Christianity is found in how we personally answer the question, ‘who is my neighbour?’

This Homily entry was posted on Sunday, July 11th, 2010.